New York Attorney General Letitia James has hired high-powered DC lawyer Abbe Lowell — who unsuccessfully defended Hunter Biden — to fight charges that she committed mortgage fraud.
James was hit with the bombshell federal indictment in Virginia Thursday, accusing her of lying on forms when she took out a loan for a home in the Old Dominion State, netting her $19,000 in savings.
Lowell, a go-to attorney for prominent Democrats in legal trouble, issued a statement defending the Empire State’s top lawyer against the accusations, saying she “flatly and forcefully denies these charges.”
“We are deeply concerned that this case is driven by President Trump’s desire for revenge,” he said Thursday, referring to James’ civil fraud case against Trump.
The high-profile lawyer is also repping embattled Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook as she appeals her firing by the Trump administration, which claimed she also allegedly committed mortgage fraud.
Lowell is likely most well-known for his defense of Biden, the former first son, in his fun and tax case.
While Biden was convicted at a first trial of illegally owning a gun while hooked on drugs — and pleaded guilty in a second case to committing tax evasion — former President Joe Biden pardoned his wayward son before leaving office in December 2024.
And Lowell recently defended former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, another prominent Democrat — currently in prison serving an 11-year sentence while he appeals his federal conviction.
Menendez was found guilty at trial in July 2024 of taking bribes, including gold bars, in exchange for using the power of his office to serve the interests of wealthy businessmen and the countries of Qatar and Egypt.
But Lowell’s recent losing track record isn’t a reflection on the quality of his work, rather that he is willing to take on difficult cases that aren’t likely to succeed, former prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Post.
“Those cases were losers no matter who was defending them,” Rahmani said Friday.
As a criminal defense lawyer, especially defending federal cases, “you’re expected to lose,” Rahmani said. “Acquittals are the exception rather than the rule.”
James’ case is also likely to be difficult to win because her statement claiming on documents that her Virginia home would be her primary residence “seemed false on its face,” Rahmani said.
“I think this is a very tough case to defend,” the lawyer said.
“I’m not saying it should have been brought or prosecuted or that this is a good use of government resources,” Rahmani added, “but if you’re just defending the case straight up on the merits, it’s a false statement, it’s bank fraud.”
James was hit with one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution for which she faces up to 60 years in prison and a fine of up to $2 million if convicted.
Prosecutors claim she bought a three-bedroom, one-bathroom Norfolk, Va. home in August 2020 for roughly $137,000 and took a $109,600 loan for it, which barred her from renting it out.
On loan documents and related forms, she said it would be a secondary residence, but on tax forms she designated the home as a rental investment property that she made thousands of dollars on, prosecutors alleged.
James is the second of Trump’s political enemies to be indicted in the span of a few weeks.
Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted last month for allegedly lying to Congress about his probe into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.
Both James and Comey have said they were targeted by the Department of Justice at the president’s bidding in retaliation for their investigations into him.
James won a $355 lawsuit against Trump when a New York judge found he inflated the value of his real estate empire to improve loan terms for years.
But Trump successfully appealed to have the massive judgment dismissed.
On Thursday, James, a Democrat, said the indictment against her was “nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.”
“He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York State Attorney General,” she said.
Comey, who pleaded not guilty in court this week, said after he was indicted that his “heart is broken for the Department of Justice.”
Comey’s lawyer is his longtime friend Patrick Fitzgerald, a former Chicago US attorney.
Fitzgerald said he plans to seek to have the indictment dismissed on the grounds of vindictive prosecution and for the alleged wrongful appointment of US Attorney Lindsey Halligan — who mounted the cases against James and Comey.
Halligan is Trump’s former personal lawyer. She was appointed to be the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia last month after her predecessor, Erik Siebert, was ousted by Trump.
James is scheduled for her first court appearance in the case on Oct. 24.
Lowell didn’t return a request for comment Friday.
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